Solosa
Landscape
Solosa is a relatively flat region, mostly chilly all year round, with frosts and snow likely in the winter months. Plains and coniferous forests dot the countryside. The far north is home to miles of tundra; a very beautiful sight in the brief summer, but otherwise frozen for the remainder of the year.
History
The Solosans were once part of the Jeridi culture, living on the northern cusp of the Jeridon peninsula. The term "Solosan" comes from the old Jeridi term for the advisors who once guided the Old King. Until the year 723, the Solosans advised Gaunt III, King of Haven, on all matters great and small. The venerable Old King was revered and well loved by the Jeridi people. However, the King was unable to produce an heir, even after seven different wives, and his Solosans feared that the realm would be thrown to turmoil when the Old King died with no clear line of ascension. The Solosan advisors were believers in omens and the cosmic significance of the stars, a belief called Astrology. The stars yielded their signs that hard times were coming. An heir was finally born to the Old King after his full 65 years of sterility. The boy grew strong as his father's health finally began to wane, but it was discovered by the King's High Judge that the dark haired boy was not of his lineage, but was rather of the blood of one of the King's Solosans. The High Judge confronted Gaunt III and the kingdom with the truth of the boy, and the Solosans were forced to flee with their families across the sea. The King, devastated by the news, died suddenly. Some say he killed himself, others say his grief did him in, and others whisper it was the High Judge himself who did away with the elderly King. Only one thing is for sure: the High Judge and his newfound "House of Light" won the day, chasing the exiled Solosans across the sea.
The Solosans survived the sojourn to new lands and settled in what is now Solosa, naming their people and nation after their beloved astrologers.
The wrath of the Jeridi people had far from abated, however...
A conclave of mages hired by Jeridon assembled for one last act of vengeance in the year 736. Using a powerful rite, the Ivory Conclave (as they were called) cast a curse on the capital city of Moon. The forest around the city grew up at an alarming rate, pulling down much of the beautiful city with green creeping arms. The city and the forest around it was then plunged into eternal night which, to the Jeridi, seemed a bad thing. The Solosans, however, saw this as a blessing: they could glimpse their planets and constellations at any hour of the day, provided they could build above the trees. The city became known as "Nocturne" and became the home of the Guild of the Emerald Eye, a College of Magic.
